(Observation of the NPC and CPPCC) China's seed industry "turns over"
China News Service, Beijing, March 6th, title: China's seed industry "turns over": now it is worry-free, looking forward to the fruit and flowers
Author Li Hanxue Xia Bin
At the National Two Meetings that are being held, China’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tang Renjian, revealed that he is studying and formulating an action plan to make a turnaround in the seed industry, and strive to achieve a major breakthrough in 10 years.
Where is the gap?
How to tackle the tough problem?
What changes will the development of the seed industry bring to life?
The members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the representatives of the National People's Congress in the agricultural field brought professional interpretation.
Provenance "stuck neck", where is it stuck?
Looking back at the development history of the seed industry, China's grain yield in 2019 increased 4.6 times compared with 1949. The area of self-selected varieties of crops accounted for more than 95%, and the two major ration crops of rice and wheat achieved 100% self-sufficiency.
China uses less than 10% of the world's arable land to feed nearly 20% of the population, and has achieved a historic change from "not enough to eat" to "satisfied" and then to "eating well."
But at present, the ancestors of major domestic animal species such as white feather broilers are still mainly dependent on imports, and the seeds of some high-end vegetable varieties are also mainly dependent on the supply of large international seed companies.
The yield per unit area of corn and soybeans is only about 60% of the world's advanced level.
Therefore, Wu De, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of Sichuan Agricultural University, concluded that although China is a country with large germplasm resources, it is not yet a country with strong germplasm resources; it is rich in resources, but the efficiency of innovation and utilization is not high.
Cheng Ping, deputy to the National People’s Congress, chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese Revolution, and president of Zhongkai Agricultural Engineering College, also pointed out that in the previous stage, China’s seed industry focused on ensuring the safety of grain and oil, and invested in animal husbandry, flowers, fruits and vegetables, etc. Relatively few, refined breeding has not yet been achieved.
"High-tech research in the seed industry needs to be improved, especially in the use of molecular biology. We are still far from large international multinational seed companies." said Ma Chuanxi, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and executive vice president of Anhui Agricultural University.
According to Wu De, China has a large number of breeding companies but small scales and weak technical capabilities, making it difficult to compete with international seed industry giants.
How to tackle weaknesses?
Cheng Ping believes that to solve the above problems, a more lenient policy on molecular breeding technology is needed to accelerate the development of new technologies.
Wu De said that finance and enterprises need to insist on long-term investment in the seed industry.
The breeding process often takes 10 to 20 years or even longer. With sufficient support, high-end seed industry talents can sit on the bench and make seed engineering work for a long time and achieve breakthroughs.
On the basis of talents, the country needs to pool resources and coordinate the establishment of a national-level seed research and development innovation platform and a sharing platform.
Cheng Ping compared it to the "aircraft carrier" of the seed industry.
She believes that changing the past "decentralized operations" of various institutions and institutions into "cluster operations" is an inevitable strategy for catching up with multinational seed industry giants.
She also proposed this year that Guangdong Province, which has outstanding comprehensive advantages in science and technology, talents, resources (including climate resources and genetic resources), economy, and markets, can take the lead and try to create a "Silicon Valley of the Seed Industry."
With a large platform, it is convenient to carry out molecular labeling of breeding materials.
In the future, if the enterprise needs to cultivate, it can trace the inventor of the parent material and distribute the corresponding benefits.
In this way, the contribution of scientists in research and development can be fully reflected.
Precise improvement can be expected in the future
Today, China has the ability to ensure that "grain is basically self-sufficient and rations are absolutely safe."
Looking forward to the future development of China's seed industry, what changes can be expected?
A visit to Australia more than ten years ago left a deep impression on Cheng Ping.
She saw that local scientists are already studying and improving the shape, color, and fiber content of oranges, and conducting precise gene editing research.
"Many people like imported oranges such as Sunkist oranges. In fact, there are many good varieties in China. However, in terms of beautiful colors and neat appearance, refined improvements are really not enough."
Cheng Ping said that in the past, everyone loved to eat American red grapes. In recent years, with the successful cultivation of domestic red grapes and green grapes, fewer people buy imported varieties.
Through the use of molecular breeding techniques to accurately improve varieties, I believe there will be more and more such examples.
Cheap and high-quality domestic varieties will let "cherry free" and "strawberry free" are not extravagant hopes.
She said, another example is flowers. At present, most of the orchid species like Cymbidium and other orchids that everyone loves are imported, and the price is relatively expensive.
In the future, we will also be able to quickly cultivate varieties of flowers with brighter colors and even more scent to decorate a more colorful life.
As the old saying goes, "You have grain in your hands, so don't panic in your heart."
With the efforts of several generations of agricultural experts, China has reached the stage where there is no worry about grains and oils and rice noodles. What kind of surprises the development of the seed industry will bring is what is expected.
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